Gospel Life Church

Is evolution a fact? How does the fine-tuning of the universe affect my view? How do we explain the rapid rise of Christianity given that there were many witnesses and an empty tomb when the New Testament began to be circulated? Were the people back then just more superstitious than our modern sensibilities today? 1. What were your overall impressions of the Easter Egg Hunt? How do you think our church did coming together to make this happen? 2. Do you think it was worth the effort? 3. What positive and negative responses did you hear at the event? 4. Do you think we should continue to do this event? If so, how can we make it better and more productive? 5. How has/is the meaning of Easter making a difference in your life? 6. How bold are you in sharing the resurrection with the people in your life? 7. Who do you need to begin praying for and sharing your faith with this year, or who would you like to see become a Christian? 8. How can the other members in your CG help make this happen? 9. As we approach t

Luke 12: 4-5 v4. Dear Friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body, they cannot do anymore to you after that. v5. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you, and then throw you into hell. Yes, he is the one to fear. Q1 – Are there any areas in your life that you are holding back because you’re afraid? Why? Chronicles 14:12 v12. The Lord defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and his Army. Q2 – Has God ever showed up in the midst of a great struggle in your life? Please share. Chronicles 2 15: 12-13 v12. It says they all entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, God. v13. They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the Lord, the God of Israel would be put to death, whether young, old, man or woman. Q3 – Do you agree with making and agreeing to a covenant with God in your church? How do you feel about being put to death for not following that covenant? Do you think that was extreme? Q4 – Why do you think Asa had a change of heart at the end of his reign

1 Corinthians 12:7–11 1. How important is the using of our gifts to being a Christian? Why or why not? How would you answer from Scripture? See especially Matthew 25:26. 2a. Do you have an idea of what your spiritual gifts might be even though we haven't listed them all yet? Please explain. 2b. If you don't have any idea what your gifts are, what do you plan to do to discover what they are? 3. How have you been using your gifts and what results have you seen? 4. What are your goals for 2016 in the exercise of your gifts? 5. We discussed the gift of "wisdom." Do you believe you have this gift? Please explain. 6. Who do you know that might have this gift? Do you have a person in your life that you go to for wisdom when making important decisions or do you tend to make them in isolation? 7. Do people come to you for wisdom and counsel? If not, why do you think that is? 8. What was your response to the explanation of the gift of knowledge? 9. How could this gift be abused? 10. How could someone with t

The primary reason we don’t use our gifts is because we don’t love people, and the reason we don’t love people is because we haven’t understood God’s love for us. You may be using your spiritual gifts and not be spiritual, but you will not be spiritual if you are not using your gifts. Someone says they are spiritual and I say show me how you are using your gifts to build up the church. Someone says they are spiritually mature, and I say show me how you are using your gifts to build up the church. On the internet you have all these self-appointed spiritual gurus, particularly on Facebook, who think their spiritual gift is to critique others. I ask, “How is this building up the Church?” Are they critiquing Joyce Meyers, or Joel Osteen out of compassion, love, and gentleness? Often, its not spirituality, even if they are right. It’s seeking self-worth by putting others down. Jesus during His earthly ministry was not OK with religious people calling the work of the Spirit, the work of the Devil, and He’s not

1. According to Ephesians 4:11–13, how does maturity happen? 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 2. Knowing this is God's design, what are some ways you can help make sure this process happens in your own life? 3. How important in the process described in Ephesians 4 is being committed to a local church? Why? 4. What is one of the primary things we could look at, as mentioned in the sermon, in order to determine our maturity level? ANSWER: our conflict resolution 5. What does handling conflict with maturity look like? Please describe it? Speak to facets like, how long should it take before you go to the person? What if yo

Jesus gives gifts to the Church so that through the preaching of the Word, Christians are equipped to use their spiritual gifts, resulting in maturity, and the building up of the Church. What's the difference between a talent and a spiritual gift? What is an apostle? How do I find out what my spiritual gift is? 1. We talked about the idea that self-perception can affect behavior. What is your tendency, to think of yourself as "just a sinner saved by grace" or as a saint reigning as a co-heir with Christ? Please explain. 2. Do you consider yourself active in the church? If so why are you, and if not what holds you back in your opinion? Please explain. 3. We mentioned four graces from Ephesians 4:2, what were they? 4. What is the goal in the church for these 4 graces? (Answer is in verse 3) 5. Who is the humblest person you ever met? What was it about them you perceived as humble? 6. How did we define humility based on Philippians 2:3–4? Answer: The test is whether you invest in other people. 7. Accordin

Humility, Gentleness, Patience, and Loving Forbearance moves us, like Jesus, to serve others. We cannot say we are any of these things until we are serving. Here we are look at Biblical and concrete definitions for the purpose of self-analysis. 1. We talked about the idea that self-perception can affect behavior. What is your tendency, to think of yourself as "just a sinner saved by grace" or as a saint reigning as a co-heir with Christ? Please explain. 2. Do you consider yourself active in the church? If so why are you, and if not what holds you back in your opinion? Please explain. 3. We mentioned four graces from Ephesians 4:2, what were they? 4. What is the goal in the church for these 4 graces? (Answer is in verse 3) 5. Who is the humblest person you ever met? What was it about them you perceived as humble? 6. How did we define humility based on Philippians 2:3–4? Answer: The test is whether you invest in other people. 7. According to this definition, how humble are you? 8. Where would you like t

C. S. Lewis writes, “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.” 1. What are the results of experiencing God’s love according to Ephesians 3:16–19? ANSWERS: Power, strength, . being complete, fullness of life, power again. Our tendency is to turn to every other thing to find what we need to live the life we want If its our accomplishments we become self-promoting If its by building self-worth by finding other’s faults we become judgmental If its by self-love we become selfish and discover our own emptiness. If its through knowledge we become proud If its through discipline we cycle back and forth from arrogance to depression. 2. When we fail to turn to God’s love for fulness of life, what is it that you d

1. We mentioned 3 things that we tend to turn into an either/or instead of a both/and. Which do you tend toward: A. Emotion or intellect? Please explain. B. My faith is an individual thing or I'm only spiritual when I'm in a certain community? Please explain. C. Withdrawal into isolation (personal time w God) vs. sacrificial service? Read the following: reality. Jonathan Edwards wrote this in his diary, “Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view, that for me was extraordinary. That must have been something of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace, that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thoug

1. Now is a good time to take a look at where you are on Bible reading. A link to many Bible reading plans has been posted on the GL Facebook page. How important is reading the Bible to you and your spiritual life? What are some reasonable goals you have for Bible reading in 2016? 2. We listed 41 potential things we could work on in 2016 and they are listed below. Do you still recall the ones you have decided to focus on? 3. What are the situations that most often lead to your exhibiting the negative behavior that you want to move away from in 2016? Would you share these with the group? 4. What would it look like for you to respond in a Jesus way instead? 5. What are the things or persons that you usually blame for your negative behavior? 6. In blaming circumstances or other persons are you able to specify the misbelief you are telling yourself? What is it? 7. Do you believe change in your behavior and personality is possible? Do you have hope for 2016? Please explain. 8. Who is a good person to help

1. We defined success this way: "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal." What is success in life for you for 2016? What is the worthy ideal you are seeking to achieve or live out? 2. Without a purpose, we are like a ship out on the open water without a crew or a destination. What is your purpose in 2016? What are you seeking to achieve and where do your hopes lie? 3. Read Matthew 7:7-8: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. As we are seeking, knocking, and asking, we will also be experiencing from time to time adversity, failure, and defeat. Notice the NLT translation of Matthew 7:7 says we receive what we ask for. Is it possible that we give up our seeking for that which we should truly desire because of the defeat we may experience in the meantime? Please explain. 4

What's the relationship between Israel and the Church? Text: Ephesians 2:11-22 1. How many times is the word peace used between vv. 14-17? ANSWER: 4 2. What is the verb used in v. 16 that performs the action bringing peace? ANSWER: Reconcile 3. What is the definition of reconcile? ANSWER: "to make friendly relations between, to bring into agreement or harmony, to restore. 4. How did Jesus make peace between us and God? 5. What was the cause of us being separated from God? 6. Have you experienced reconciliation between you and God? Please explain. 7. How does Jesus give you peace in the midst of conflict? 8. The text speaks of reconciliation not only with God, but also reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles. How have you experienced division or alienation in your life? Have you experienced division or alienation as a result of becoming a Christian? Please explain. 9. In what ways do you struggle letting Jesus and your faith be your primary identity? Do you have people in your life that would not know you

1. Have you come to trust in Christ personally, or are you still at the point of intellectual knowledge and emotional approval of the facts of salvation without having personally put your trust in Christ? If you have not put your trust in Christ yet, what do you think it is that is making you hesitate? 2. Did you feel a sincere sorrow for sin when you first came to Christ? Can you describe what it felt like? Did it lead you to a genuine commitment to forsake sin? How long was it before you noticed a change in your pattern of life? 3. Have you ever truly repented of sin, or do you think you have been taught a watered-down gospel that did not include repentance? Do you think it is possible for someone genuinely to trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins without also sincerely repenting for sins? Do you think that genuine repentance usually involves only a sincere feeling of sorrow for sin in general, or does it involve genuine sorrow for specific sins, and turning from those specific sins? 4. Have faith and

Ephesians 2:2 NLT 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.* He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Ephesians 2:2 NASB in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. You need to know that Satan is a defeated enemy. Satan was defeated at the cross. Satan is defeated in that he no longer has the right to accuse us. Satan says God’s people deserve punishment Ephesians 1:21 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. Jesus is far above any ruler and this includes the Devil or Satan. We don’t need to live in fear. How did Christ become exalted? Philippians 2:6-11 6 Though he was God,* he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he